A Michigan woman convicted of barreling through a boat club last year during a “kid’s dream birthday party” — resulting in the deaths of a 4-year-old boy and his 8-year-old sister — faced the victims’ grieving parents at her sentencing on Thursday, with each of them taking turns berating her for what she “took” away from them.
“You don’t have no kids, so you don’t know what it feels like,” said Brian Phillips, father of Alanah Phillips, 8, and Zayn Phillips, 4, in his victim impact statement to Marshella Chidester during her sentencing in Monroe County, which was broadcast on YouTube by local Fox affiliate WJBK.
Chidester, 67, was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison after being convicted in March of second-degree murder, OWI causing death, and five counts of OWI causing serious injury in the April 2024 crash. She stared directly at Brian Phillips and his children’s mother, Mariah Dodds, as they each condemned her in impact statements.
“What you took from me, I will never ever get back,” Brian assured me. “My daughter was trying to be like me while playing basketball. She just celebrated her eighth birthday. Zayn was about to turn 5. “Rather than celebrating, we buried them.”
Dodds spoke for more than 20 minutes with Chidester and the court, saying, “I’ll never know why she didn’t stop the first time she ran into something before coming towards the boat club.” She showed no remorse for what she had done. I see past the alligator tears, going on TV, and laughing it off as if nothing happened. As if it were a simple mistake. It was like a big slap in the face.”
Jurors reportedly returned a guilty verdict for Chidester in 90 minutes after seeing security footage of the 67-year-old consuming wine and stumbling inside her Newport home, which is about 30 miles south of Detroit, on the day of the crash.
According to prosecutors, Chidester drank a lot of small, single-serving wine bottles that day and went to a local bar. Security video taken inside her home shows her drinking at around 2:32 p.m., and a local store clerk testified that she was at the store around 9 a.m., purchasing a four-pack of single-serving pinot grigio and a regular-sized bottle of red wine. She later claimed to have forgotten what had happened and told police she could not recall the crash.
Dodds stated on Wednesday that she was “absolutely disgusted” after hearing Chidester’s claims and seeing how she has reacted.
“She is an evil and sick individual in my eyes,” the mother declared.
“If Michigan offered the death penalty, I would highly recommend it for her,” she said. “No punishment can undo what has been taken from me.”
Chidester showed little emotion during the sentencing, though she attempted to express regret when given the opportunity to speak.
“I’ve been thinking about what I was going to say to you for over a year,” Chidester told Dobbs and Phillips. “It was a truly terrible tragedy. I can’t help but express my deepest condolences for the loss of your children. I pray for them daily. I’ve asked the Lord to forgive me, and I ask you to look into your heart; if you can ever forgive me, I’d be grateful.”
Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Daniel White told Chidester that he believed the jury and court did everything correctly with her conviction and sentence, noting that the evidence against her was “overwhelming.”
White described Chidester’s claim that she forgot everything, saying, “Perhaps that’s how you get away from the horror of such a thing, is to say, ‘I don’t remember what happened.'” But, for me and the court, the evidence is what matters.”
Following a four-day trial, jurors convicted Chidester. She was also found guilty of operating a motor vehicle while impaired, resulting in serious injury to five other people, including the victims’ older brother and Dodds.
